Insta360 Is Making a Mirrorless Camera With a Shape ‘You’ve Never Even Considered’

In January, Insta360’s refreshingly candid founder and CEO, Jingkang “JK” Liu appeared to tease what looks like an Insta360 mirrorless camera. Liu has started talking about Insta360’s new camera project, promising a camera shaped like no other before.

Speaking to Mynavi News, as shared by Digicame-Info, Liu confirmed that Insta360 is not actually developing just one mirrorless camera, but two.

“At this point, there’s only so much we can say, but we are developing two types of mirrorless cameras,” Liu told Mynavi News. “One of them will have a surprising shape that you’ve never even considered before.”

Liu adds that the camera’s functionality will be similarly unique in the mirrorless camera space, enabling users to interact with and use an interchangeable lens camera (ILC) in an entirely different way than they’re used to.

Insta360 CEO JK Liu posted this image on Weibo in January.

As for why Insta360 is making interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras — yes, they will be ILCs — Liu echoes a familiar sentiment. He wants to “make it easy for people who don’t know how to use an interchangeable lens camera to use them by introducing new technologies and AI.”

This is similar reasoning to what Liu told PetaPixel last month about his dream for a camera that users won’t have to think about at all.

“The best camera is the one that disappears,” Liu told PetaPixel. “For a long time, cameras have asked people to do two things at once: live the moment and operate the machine. That’s a bad tradeoff. If you’re thinking about framing, stabilization, settings, or whether you missed the shot, then part of your attention is already gone.

“Our belief is simple: people should experience the moment, and the camera should handle the mechanics of capture.”

Those entirely new to an interchangeable lens camera can be easily overwhelmed. There is so much going on, and they are typically expected to have a fairly high level of control over many factors at once. Liu is right that it can be challenging, even if photographers may disagree about the best solution to the problem, or even whether the difficulty is even a problem at all.

Liu believes Insta360’s pair of upcoming mirrorless cameras will be able to leverage the company’s rich suite of technology to make photography with a dedicated camera more accessible.

Mynavi News‘s Osamu Iso is excited and believes what Insta360 is doing “has the potential to completely change the way we take picture with a camera — framing, focusing, and pressing the shutter button.”

As for the rest of the photography community, they may need to wait a while longer still to form opinions. Liu believes Insta360 will be able to showcase a prototype at the next CP+, which will return to Yokohama on February 25, 2027.

Image creditsInsta360. Header image created using an asset licensed via Depositphotos.com.